STORE GROUPS SETTING OUT THEIR STALLS


Retail giant Marks & Spencer has confirmed plans for two new stores in Lancashire as part of a £50m-plus investment in the North West that will create 300 jobs.


It aims to deliver a new food hall in Thornton Cleveleys and push forward with its plan to move its Blackburn store to Frontier Park on the outskirts of the town.


The new outlet in Thornton-Cleveleys, pending planning permission from Wyre Council, will triple the size of the company’s current offering in the town.


In east Lancashire, M&S has submitted a planning application for its proposed food outlet on the Issa brothers’ Frontier Park retail hub, which sits just off junction six of the M65.


The move, which will see the retailer quit Blackburn town centre, has sparked controversy.


M&S currently operates 62 stores across the region, The investment, spread over the next three financial years, is part of the retailer’s plans to build new and improved stores across its estate.


Will Smith, property director at M&S, said: “Our pipeline of stores for 2025 demonstrates our continued investment in market-leading stores as we deliver our transformation priorities.”


Meanwhile, supermarket group Lidl has announced plans to invest half a billion pounds in its expansion programme as it eyes sites across Lancashire.


It has published its latest list of locations for potential new stores, from Bamber Bridge to Barnoldswick and Great Harwood to Leyland. Blackpool and Kirkham are also on its wish list.


The discounter is set to open more than 40 new stores across the UK this financial year including one in Burnley.


Richard Taylor, chief development officer at Lidl GB, said: “This level of investment is a clear sign of our ambition.”


Reform UK has swept to victory in Lancashire – taking control of County Hall after decimating both the Conservatives and Labour in May’s local election.


The party went into the election with just two councillors but ended winning 53 of the 84 seats to gain a considerable majority.


The Tories, who had previously controlled the local authority with 46 seats, saw their representation in the council chamber cut to just eight while Labour saw its ranks reduced to five.


The rest of the council is now made up of seven independent councillors, five Liberal Democrats, four Greens and two Our West


View from the gallery PAY DEMANDS ARE


A RISING ISSUE By Antony Higginbotham


Former Member of Parliament for Burnley


Remember that fictitious £22bn black hole? Well, it might just be about to go up in size.


As most will remember, the gap in the finances that the chancellor dreamt up to push through her deeply unpopular and economically questionable decisions, was created in no small part because of her decisions on public sector pay awards.


Specifically, the bumper-busting pay rises handed to doctors, train drivers and others, without any requirements on productivity or contract renegotiations.


Whilst that allowed her, and the rest of the incoming Labour government, to claim a victory on the ending of strikes, there were many on the Conservative side highlighting the very real problem that would come as a result - all those who had already settled would now want even more.


Unions, freshly emboldened from that and their near universal win on the Employment Rights Bill - almost all employer concerns appear to have been ignored on that one - are now pushing harder, piling pressure on public finances. And in the ‘independent pay review bodies’ they have found an ally.


Last month two of those bodies came back, making recommendations for over one


Frontier Park LANCASHIREBUSINES SV IEW.CO.UK


million public sector employees, and calling for wage rises that are both higher than inflation and more than the government originally budgeted for (2.8 per cent).


This is no abstract issue. Higher public sector pay awards means higher taxes, higher borrowing in the short term, or cuts to services.


But with an economy already being hit by substantial tax rises, weak growth and fragile consumer confidence, it is clear that this is a burden that cannot be shouldered. All of which puts Rachel Reeves in a very difficult position, albeit one almost entirely of her own making.


Ultimately, therefore, the only solution can be limiting any pay increases to what has been budgeted for. That’s not unusual for anyone reading this - you can only pay wages with the money you make - but in the public sector that is a concept that far too many struggle with.


The question is, can Labour really push back on union demands?


Antony Higginbotham is a former Member of Parliament and now co-runs Polaris Partners, a Lancashire based Political Consultancy. He can be contacted on antony@polaris-partners.co.uk.


REFORM VICTORY CREATES POLITICAL SHOCKWAVES


Lancashire representatives. There were major political casualties. Both Conservative council leader Phillipa Williamson and Labour group leader Matthew Tomlinson lost their seats to Reform candidates.


The leader of the Tory group, which had controlled the authority since 2017, lost her Lancaster Rural North seat by just 29 votes,


Stephen Atkinson, leader of Ribble Valley Council before defecting from the Conservatives to Reform UK, looked set to become county council leader as Lancashire Business View went to press. He described the result as an “earthquake”.


Reform UK has said that its priorities would include improving the county’s roads, ‘subject to the budget being in balance’.


It has also said that it would seek permission from central government to hold a referendum on the future local government map of Lancashire, amid Labour’s national moves that would see the number of councils in the county reduced.


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IN VIEW


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